First, we would like to announce the results of our Board of Directors elections. All three of our incumbent Board members were re-elected, including Mick Bednarek (Fluor), Tom Lampley (KBR) and Rochelle Lipsitz (International SOS). I would like to thank the members who stepped up to run this year, and all of our member companies that voted in the Board election. There are many ways to get involved with ISOA in addition to Board membership, including events and committees, and we encourage all members to explore the possibilities.

Next up, just a reminder that many of you have membership renewals coming up at the end of December. Please keep an eye out for an email with the details.

Finally, we’d like to invite all of our members to our Holiday Reception on December 14, 5-8 PM at Tysons. In the holiday spirit, please bring an unwrapped toy for donation.

Upcoming Conferences

Dec. 5: ISOA NATO & EU Workshop in Brussels. This promises to be an excellent introduction to this sector, with speakers from NATO, EU and industry. Don’t miss this opportunity to interact with these experts. High visibility sponsorships are still available!

Feb. 13-15: Africa Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Our panels will explore topics such as logistics, development, humanitarian operations and information/intelligence collection. Registration for the conference will open shortly – keep an eye out for our announcement.

Looking out a couple of months, our team is currently putting together plans for a Department of State Industry Day in Arlington, VA in March; a Europe Industry Conference in Germany in April; and an Indo-Pacific Conference in Hawaii in May. Stay tuned for more details.

Recent Past Events

On November 7-9, we held our 17th Annual ISOA Summit at Tysons, VA with over 300 registrants and three full days of panels, keynotes, a new highly-rated Small Business workshop and networking opportunities. We appreciate your attendance and hope you found it to be valuable for your business. Conference attendees were asked to complete a post-conference survey.

On the Ukraine front, ISOA recently published an Op-Ed piece focused on how contractors can help accelerate victory there with activities such as demining, equipment maintenance and anti-corruption efforts. We are committed to continuing our advocacy for the critical role that contractors will play in sustaining and rebuilding Ukraine.

To continue our exploration of the challenging logistics situation in the Indo-Pacific region, we recently started a deep dive into more fully understanding and better addressing what we call the Tyranny of Distance. A small group of ISOA members gathered with government and industry experts to outline issues and potential technologies that might address the issue. The next activities in this area will be another focused discussion and a tabletop exercise in early 2024.

ISOA was honored to be recognized by American University of Afghanistan with their International Public Service Award. The award was presented at the Friends of the American University of Afghanistan Annual Awards Dinner on October 24 in Washington, D.C., where the courage of the young women and men of the University was celebrated. FAUAF is led by ISOA Advisory Council member Leslie Schweitzer.

We appreciated seeing many of you at AUSA at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center last month. Thank you to all of you who turned out for our reception at MXDC Cocina Mexicana on October 10.